


恋の予感 (you at first laugh)

by tostitos



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Pretend Rivals, Reality TV, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, dating show, like the bachelor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23559616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tostitos/pseuds/tostitos
Summary: Dongyoung is one of fifteen guys vying for the affection of charming bachelor, Jung Jaehyun, on national television and from the start they’re already trying to edit him against someone in the house. But even when they’re competing for the same man, Johnny Suh is too hard to hate.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 7
Kudos: 89





	恋の予感 (you at first laugh)

**Author's Note:**

> interrupting my markdo agenda to give the people johndo
> 
> this will be either a twoshot or a threeshot (most likely a threeshot)

There’s a man lingering behind the camera set to the close right of Dongyoung and, to be honest, he has no idea what that man’s position in the crew is. That may be a problem, but, at the same time, he figures it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like anyone on the crew can be trusted anyway; if there’s anything about reality television that Dongyoung knows, it’s that.

He looks around the illustrious mansion that’ll be his ‘home’ for however long again, taking in the almost gaudy tapestry and the sparkling ginger colored chandelier hanging overhead, reflecting in the tile of the foyer they’re standing in. He doesn’t know the societal class of everyone here, but Dongyoung feels like they would have been better off with a simpler beach house.

“Alright,” one of the producers calls through a red, plastic voice amplifier, “In a few minutes, Jaehyun is going to arrive. Try not to look disgusting.”

The crowd of fifteen guys bursts into chatter at the announcement. They’ve been standing around in the foyer for the last twenty minutes, arranged in two lines facing the entrance doors. It’s about time that they’re going to start. Dongyoung has been trying to hide the fact that he’s been yawning for the last five minutes and he doesn’t want to begin the show looking disinterested. 

Granted, he still feels a little awkward around the whole...reality dating show thing, but that’s what he gets for listening to his cousin, Donghyuck’s, ‘inspired’ ideas.

Production staff hushes the group of bachelors and everyone quiets down immediately.

“His car is pulling up into the driveway soon. Cameras rolling in three...two—“

“—choo!”

A loud sneeze from behind makes Dongyoung flinch.

The entire room freezes and something about the sudden stillness in the air is so funny that Dongyoung can’t help but snort. 

“Sorry,” the man standing behind Dongyoung says, voice sounding like hot chocolate and thick blankets in the middle of a raging snowstorm. 

Dongyoung doesn’t remember anyone with that voice and curiosity makes him turn around, something of an amused smile still on his face. He immediately meets round eyes that widen once the man behind him realizes he’s being looked at.

Dongyoung has a stable enough self-esteem that he can admit that he’s rather handsome, but the man behind him... He looks like he’s been cut out a magazine and blown up to life size, made of strong brows and an even stronger jaw and quite possibly the plushest lips Dongyoung has ever seen. 

The sticker plastered to his chest reads ‘Johnny’.

Johnny’s lips stretch into a smile that splits his cheeks, his eyes crinkling. He looks like he wants to say something, but production is yelling at them again and Johnny presses his lips together in attempt to hide the smile that isn’t very successful. 

Suppressing another laugh, Dongyoung offers him a nod before turning back around and looking toward the door that’s due to open soon. 

Jaehyun is nice.

He oozes charm that is naturally alluring — the type of person who shouldn’t have any issue with finding a partner. Dongyoung wonders why he’s decided to put himself out there on a dating show of all things. 

He still hasn’t answered that question himself, but he supposes that when you’ve moved away from old friends and their history, the only options left are nightclubs and apps and Dongyoung doesn’t favor either. Past relationships have told him that nothing good comes from those places. The show can’t possibly be any worse, can it?

 _Of course it can_ , he hears in Taeyong, his best friend’s voice. _Everyone with a television or computer will be watching when this airs, say goodbye to your privacy._

“So, Dongyoung,” Jaehyun crosses a leg over the other where he’s sitting on the arm of a white couch in one of the many sitting rooms in the mansion, “tell me about yourself.”

For now, it’s just the two of them in the room, Production having shooed everyone out for a few minutes so they can get a shot of the two of them. It won’t be long before they allow the others the freedom to come in, though, and Dongyoung has already spied some guys who seem like they’re the type to be extra competitive over Jaehyun’s heart.

Dongyoung takes a sip of champagne. “Well, I’m a transcriptionist for a hospital in my area and when I have a little free time, I sing at a jazz bar in my city.”

Jaehyun’s eyebrows raise up in interest. “Oh, really?” He grins. “Can you sing something for me?”

A blush rises to Dongyoung’s cheeks at the request.

Laughing, Dongyoung rests the stem of his glass on his thigh. ”Sure.”

A thought crosses his mind to make up a one on the spot, something especially for Jaehyun, but memories of people on other dating shows doing that makes him shrivel up inside. Not to mention, he doesn’t know anything about this man other than his name, age, and occupation as a gym owner and fitness trainer. So, he does a cover of the first song in his repertoire that comes to mind.

It’s so easy to get lost in a song once he starts, immersed in the raw emotion that only jazz can bring out of someone, but he tries to hold back and only sing a few lines before he lets the last note drag out and dissipate into the air between them. 

“Wow...” Jaehyun breathes.

“Nicole Henry?”

Blinking, Dongyoung turns over his shoulder. 

At the base of the stairs, one hand coolly tucked into the pocket of his lightly pinstriped slacks and the older holding a flute of champagne much like theirs, is Johnny. 

Dongyoung smiles and give a nod. “Yeah.” A hand lands on his thigh and he turns to look at Jaehyun who stares at him with eyes of chocolate fondue and a warm smile.

“That was beautiful, Dongyoung. You’re a great singer.”

“Thank you.”

Johnny approaches the couch and he leans over the back. A light cologne tickles Dongyoung’s nose as he looks up at him. Johnny stares back, that wide grin as ever present. 

“Mind if I steal him away?” he asks, glancing at Jaehyun to shoot him a quick wink before angling his head at Dongyoung.

Biting back a chuckle, Dongyoung narrows his eyes. “And what if I do mind?”

It’s not spoken with upset and Johnny picks up on that.

“Then too bad.” Johnny sticks out his tongue, so endearing and childish.

Something in Dongyoung is elated at the playfulness, but he knows the cameras are rolling so he doesn’t let himself laugh.

Johnny holds out a hand for Jaehyun, saying they’re going for a walk out back and Dongyoung sips at his drink as he watches Jaehyun let himself be led away. 

After the main producer follows them out, another member of the staff asks Dongyoung to go outside for a quick interview. 

He leaves his champagne on a nearby table and exits the house. It’s not his first interview— that was his one-liner on his first impression about the rest of the bachelors. The producers told him that they had a good feeling about him, that if Dongyoung played his cards right, he could make it to the end. Whatever that means. 

Outside, they point the camera at his face and ask him what he thinks about Johnny interrupting his time with Jaehyun. Dongyoung gets that rivalry is what the show is based off of, but he doesn’t understand what that question is supposed to mean. He knows just as much about Johnny as he does Jaehyun, which is to say, he doesn’t really feel anything at all.

He shrugs. “I don’t have a problem with Johnny having his time now. He’s cute,” he says, only now realizing just how much he thinks so when it comes out of his mouth. That’s not going to make the producer happy, though. “But he’s not me, so in the end it won’t matter.”

“Honestly, I’ll be surprised if Jungwoo makes it to next week. Kun too.”

Dongyoung rolls onto his stomach and looks over at the man lying on the bed across the room from him. Yuta is sprawled out over his bed like a starfish, arm and leg dangling off the edge.

“Really?” Dongyoung asks. 

“Yeah.” Yuta looks over. “I mean, neither of them seem all that interesting, you know.” His voice drawls in a way that makes him sound bored out of his mind, but that’s what happens when you no only have no contact with the outside world, but also aren’t allowed to read a book or a magazine without permission from the producers. 

It’s only been four days since the start of the show and it’s still a little early to be judging people’s personalities, but there will be an elimination sooner or later. Contemplating who is going to be kicked off isn’t on Dongyoung’s mind at the moment, but he understands why Yuta is already thinking about it. After all, the point in being here is to make to the end.

“Knock knock.”

Johnny pokes his head into the room, eyes quickly scanning over the room until they find Dongyoung in bed. His hair is damp in the aftermath of a shower, the black stands falling long over his eyebrows. 

“Who’s there?” Dongyoung answers back.

“You’re worst enemy according to the producers,” Johnny replies as he enters. He throws a nod at Yuta and sits on the edge of Dongyoung’s bed. 

That shouldn’t come as a surprise — not with how many times they’ve asked him about Johnny in the interviews — but still Dongyoung’s eyes widen. Something uncomfortable curls in the pit of his stomach as his eyes scan over Johnny’s face for his opinion on the set-up.

“You’d think they’d let us actually get a grasp on who everyone is as people first,” he says. “I’m sure plenty of guys will start fighting on their own in time.”

“I’m betting on that Ten guy and Jungwoo going at it very soon,” Yuta jumps in.

Johnny raises his eyebrows, a noise of confused interest escaping his throat. ”What’s up with them?”

Dongyoung sits up and tucks his knees to his chest. “Oh, you weren’t there, were you?” He thinks back to what happened a few hours earlier, after dinner. Some of them went outside to enjoy the summer air and cocktails — Dongyoung, Yuta, and Jaehyun included. Dongyoung was more interested in people watching than in attempting to spark a conversation with Jaehyun while surrounded by a bunch of other guys. 

Johnny tilts his head to the side. “Where?”

Dongyoung notices a drop of water slide down the bridge of his nose. He curls his fingers around his shins so he doesn’t attempt to wipe it off.

“Outside on the veranda earlier. Jaehyun had been talking to Jungwoo for a while when Ten came out in these tiny swim shorts, crawled right into Jaehyun’s lap, and said he wanted Jaehyun to teach him how to swim.”

Johnny’s brows knit together as his nose scrunches up. “Isn’t Ten a competitive swimmer?”

Dongyoung snorts. “Exactly. Jungwoo looked so pissed off.”

“And you knew it was bad ‘cause Jungwoo always looks like a toddler lost at the mall,” Yuta comments with a laugh of his own.

“I think it’s just the slope of his eyebrows,” defends Dongyoung. He hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to talk with Jungwoo, but Dongyoung always thought he looked more perpetually at peace than airheaded. “But either way, the producers obviously don’t need to pin us against each other if it’s already happening organically somewhere else. I don’t even know how I’d antagonize you.”

Johnny leans down on one arm and Dongyoung admittedly lets his eyes travel down the line of his outstretched body, getting caught up in the definition of his arms.

“Aww.”

Johnny’s cooing draws Dongyoung away from admiring the way Johnny’s sweatpants fit very well around his thighs and he looks up in time to watch the older man playfully tap his knee. 

“I like you, too, Dongyoung.”

From his bed on the other side of the room, Yuta clears his throat. “As cute as this budding friendship is, I don’t really think that’s going to stop them from editing you against each other.”

Johnny glances over at the other man in the room. “Yeah, but if we’re both cool with each other, then who cares.” He peeks up through his still damp hair at Dongyoung again, wide hand once again finding its way back to Dongyoung’s leg. “We can even play it up for fun.”

He winks before giving Dongyoung a summery laugh that he can’t help but return.

“You’re having way too much fun with this,” Dongyoung says, stretching out a leg and lightly kicking Johnny in the side. “What if they edit you to be the bad guy between us?”

“Me? The bad guy?” Johnny blinks and presses his lips together. “With this face?” He barks out a laugh.

A face like a golden labrador puppy? Yeah, Dongyoung knows exactly what he means. 

“So, you’re saying I’m the bad guy?” Shaking his head, Dongyoung leans forward and shoves at Johnny’s shoulder. “Get out of my bed, then.”

Johnny laughs and lets himself get kicked out. “You’re acting like a bad guy right now. But whatever, man.” On the way to the door, he tosses a wave a Yuta who nods back. “Good night.”

Dongyoung falls back onto his bed once Johnny is gone and tosses an arm over his eyes. It doesn’t do much to hide his smile.

“We haven’t talked much about your feelings about Jaehyun, but you obviously think Johnny is cute.”

Dongyoung pulls back his arm and glances at his roommate. He chews on his lip, trying to ignore the odd feeling in his stomach. It’s true he thinks Johnny is cute but, “I think we could be good friends.”

Yuta makes some noise in his throat that Dongyoung can’t parse the meaning of and slides off the bed to stand. “I’m gonna go find something to eat,” he says, straightening his shirt. “You want something?”

“No, I’m alright.”

Shrugging, Yuta strides out of the room and leaves Dongyoung to his thoughts.

They decide to play it up for the cameras, tossing harsh glares and exchanging sarcastic quips whenever they get the chance. They never do too much in front of Jaehyun, though, not wanting to give him the wrong idea about them.

Dongyoung gives Johnny a good sneer over his shoulder as he slides an arm around one of Jaehyun’s and guides him out to get lost in the fields.

Two weeks later and following the eliminations of Kun and Taeil, they’re taken to Jeju for their first trip. Dongyoung thinks he’s been doing well with Jaehyun, enough so that Jaehyun sought him out first for a one on one date at the mandarin farm they’re taking a tour of. He hasn’t been doing anything special, hasn’t been resorting to shady tricks in order to steal Jaehyun’s attention, but he’s good at making the most out of the time he has with the bachelor when he gets it.

“I’m a little surprised you chose me first,” Dongyoung says as they venture deeper into the fields, purposefully going far so that it takes longer when they need to go back. He still wouldn’t say he has feelings for Jaehyun, but he’s good company and there’s no saying that he _won’t_ develop affection one day.

Jaehyun turns to look at him and presses his fingers along the inside of Dongyoung’s wrist until the older man gets the idea to lace their hands together. “Why?” he asks. He has that deep-dimpled smile on, the one that always makes Dongyoung want to pinch his cheeks.

Shrugging, Dongyoung begins to swing their hands between them. “I assumed you’d ask Sicheng. You’ve been spending a lot of time together lately.”

Jaehyun grins at him, mouth tilted in something close to a smirk. “Are you jealous?”

“What do I have to be jealous of? I’m here right now instead of him. If anything I’m happy that you know your place.”

Barking out a laugh, Jaehyun tugs on Dongyoung’s hand, leading him down a turn in the pathway. “And my place is with you?”

Dongyoung shrugs again, giving a coy smile. “If you know the answer, then why ask the question.”

They stop then, taking the basket hanging from Jaehyun’s other hand, and begin to pick a few tangerines. Despite it being only two weeks since the start of the show, it’s nice with Jaehyun — comfortable. They make casual conversation about themselves both on the show and before it, Dongyoung careful not to talk too much about the other guys, and tease each other about the smallest of things. Jaehyun challenges him to see who can pick the most mandarins, but instead of it being a contest of who’s fastest, it’s a test of who will resort to foul play.

“Hey!” Jaehyun shouts when Dongyoung elbows him out of the way and snatches the fruit he was reaching for a few minutes into their contest.

“What?” Dongyoung turns to look at him with a bright, innocent grin as he drops the mandarin into the basket.

“That was mine!”

Dongyoung carefully pulls another fruit from the tree in front of them. He pushes his lips together and bats his eyelashes. “Oh, really?” He adds a bit of apology to his tone. “I didn’t notice.”

Jaehyun splutters. “Bullshit,” he laughs out, forgetting about the camera aimed at them. Taking the fruit in Dongyoung’s hand away, he drops it into the bucket by their feet before reaching for Dongyoung again and digging his fingers into his waist.

Rather than ticklish, Dongyoung would say he’s sensitive, and he lets out a shriek he’ll never admit to making when his friends grill him about it whenever the show airs and they can contact him. He narrowly avoids stepping into their collection of mandarins when he yanks out of Jaehyun’s reach and runs up the aisle away from the bachelor who chases after him.

“Don’t run away when I get back at you for cheating,” Jaehyun scolds when he catches up to Dongyoung.

Letting himself get wrapped up in a hug, Dongyoung laughs into Jaehyun’s hair and tosses his arms around the younger man’s shoulders.

When Jaehyun cups his cheek and kisses him softer than the first summer breeze, it’s…nice, but it’s not the humid beach night fireworks Dongyoung was imagining.

**Author's Note:**

> also im gonna run a [dy fic fest](http://twitter.com/doyochifest). i'm tiny and irrelevant please consider spreading the word 💩


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